David Bowen commentaries

In his regular columns for the Financial Times and ft.com, senior consultant David Bowen has pursued themes ranged from customer relationship management and career marketing to ‘ethical’ retailing and royal family sites. His collected Financial Times and ft.com columns from January 2001 onward are indexed by theme and available for viewing on this site.

You can access articles directly by selecting a link below.

  • What web managers wish for in 2013 Apps are already last year’s thing to online corporate communications teams. In the new year they aim to unwrap something smarter, Scott Payton reports.
  • How to keep command of online communications The key to controlling the proliferation of online media and not being controlled by it can be found in a 10-point agenda for enlightened governance, says David Bowen.
  • What to learn from watching the BBC Britain’s iconic broadcaster is subject and reporter in one of the UK’s main news stories. Online corporate communicators need to understand why, David Bowen says.
  • How to get real As companies rush to add the true grit of reality to their well-glossed corporate communications what can they do to achieve credibility, Scott Payton asks.
  • When the internet is the best prescription The pharmaceutical giants are a prime example of companies that can boost their public standing with stronger online interventions, David Bowen says.
  • How to get ahead of the trends Online managers at the inaugural Web Effectiveness Conference US debated three key issues dominating the development of their sites, Scott Payton reports
  • When everyone is a camera Companies as much as public figures need to adjust their behaviour in an age of mobile broadcasting where we can all publish and be damned, David Bowen says.
  • How the White House is being won From e-mail via Twitter to mobile sites and apps, online channels are playing as never before in this year’s US presidential election campaign, Scott Payton says.
  • What happened to team work? The Olympic games’ top sponsors have taken a multi-disciplined approach to their online tie-ins but win few medals for coordination across channels, David Bowen says.
  • When to put critics on ice Oil giant Shell maintained a frosty silence as environmental campaign group Greenpeace faked videos, Twitter feeds and e-mails in its name. A tactic that is paying off, David Bowen says.